There presently is a large demand for custom embroidered garments which bear a name, logo, design or other designation desirable to a particular, small segment of the population, such as schools, businesses, colleges, recreational sports teams, resorts and the like. These entities desire garments bearing their special names, logos, designs or designations. Typically, there is only a small market for such branded items, namely the members of the particular entity, and a relatively small number of garments are required. It is necessary for a garment manufacturer to produce small numbers of garments, such as jackets, bearing the logos, designs, names or designs of various customers. Typically, the most cost-effective means to meet the demand for custom-branded goods is to produce a large number of standard garments, such as jackets, in a variety of standard sizes and colors, which have no embroidery and which can later be embroidered with the names, logos, designs and designations as requested.
Names, logos, designs and other designations typically are applied to a garment by direct embroidery on the garment. While such designations can be produced as separate appliques and heat-sealed to the garment, this process is time consuming and is not cost effective. Moreover, not all designations, particularly those comprising only letters and words, are suitable to be produced as appliques. Further, such appliques do not provide the professional, finished quality produced by embroidery, and can become unfastened from the garment through normal wear and tear.
The standard embroidery process employed in the decoration of garments produces the desired design on the exterior of a garment, but a visible embroidery backing on the interior of the garment. In garments which are embroidered before completion, the unsightly embroidery backing can be concealed by a lining or by the design of the garment itself. However, where garments are pre-made before embroidery, the embroidery backing cannot be concealed, as the garment already is constructed. This is particularly true where the pre-made garment is a shirt, jacket or other garment where the reverse embroidery is visible when the garment is worn open. Typically, garments such as jackets are embroidered on the left breast. When the jacket is worn open, as opposed to buttoned or zippered, the embroidery backing is visible.
There is a need for a garment which can be pre-made and embroidered after construction in which the backing of embroidery placed thereon after the garment is constructed ("post-construction") is concealed. The present invention answers this need by providing a garment with a closeable interior pocket which allows the garment to be embroidered with standard embroidery equipment post-production. The pocket is then fastened to completely conceal the embroidery backing.
Various types of pockets appear on the insides of jackets and other types of apparel. These pockets have an opening which is typically placed on the inside left panel of the garment and which runs in the horizontal direction. The size of the known pockets is usually 5-6 inches in width and 6-7 inches in length, due to standard construction equipment. Vertically disposed pockets also are known and also normally have an opening of about 5-6 inches in width and 6-7 inches in length, again due to standard garment construction equipment.
In the embroidered apparel industry embroiderers have difficulty stitching logos to garments having the usual pockets. Because the most popular embroidery zone is the left chest area, to embroider this area on those garments, such as jackets, with an inside pocket requires the pocket to be sewn shut and rendered useless. As lined jackets typically have full front zippers, the backing of the embroidery is apparent on the inside of the jacket when the jacket is open and not zippered, thereby lowering the value of the garment to a consumer.